The science fiction wonderment of human teleportation has captured the imaginations of millions for centuries. Some of the earliest writings on the concept (i.e. Aladdin from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights) provided the first spark for what has turned out to be a long and enduring interest over its technical possibility. Though early scientific studies of the concept offered no solutions, an array of stage illusions fabricated by magicians were developed with great craft and enthusiasm to meet the demands of curious minds. Audiences were treated to such illusions by magicians operating and utilizing trick devices (i.e. secret trapdoors or undisclosed identities of twins) in order to manipulate viewers into believing that teleportation had occurred right before their eyes. For years now, performing such acts has been routinely accomplished with the aid of stage actors; however, creating the reverse illusion of convincing the audience that they themselves have been teleported has proved to be a much greater challenge. Furthermore, the landscape of popular audience entertainment in the last century has shifted dramatically away from static auditorium viewing to dynamic motion ride experiences.
Rise in popularity of amusement parks had ushered in a new type of audience entertainment as ride designers emerged with diverse engineering talents for creating extraordinary passenger ride journeys. Early amusement rides explored uses of manufactured background and foreground elements representing exotic locations like a prehistoric land of dinosaurs or the Moon and were often accompanied by varied impulse motions for creating physical sensations of movement. These rides and their modern counterparts, however, assume the task of creating powerful scenery and vehicle accelerations for encouraging passengers to imagine they are traveling to and then in these incredible worlds. Consequently, traditional methods and apparatus of modern amusement rides are limited in the full range of motion effects they can ultimately create on passengers, especially in regards to themes of ride journeys of remarkable destinations and fantastic modes of transportation.
Publications of the most closely related, but only partially related, technologies to the current invention are discussed in detail in the following sections. Though, before discussing these publications, definitions for commonly used identifications of elements and processes of the current invention are explained thoroughly as their technical importance is not currently present in sufficient discussion in any motion ride publications. This lack of technical distinction of these elements and processes is an indication of the unique and unobvious nature of the current invention as a complete listing of identifications of these technical distinctions are critical for understanding, developing, and identifying the current invention and the synergistic effects it creates.
A primary environment is identified in this publication as an area outside of a secondary environment that a passenger vehicle of a motion ride moves through with no effects of relative illusion of motion. A secondary environment is identified in this publication as an area that surrounds a passenger vehicle of a motion ride as the passenger vehicle moves through the secondary environment and experiences a relative illusion of motion resulting from the secondary environment presenting having multiple images of motion of the secondary environment. These multiple images of motion can be created by real images of the secondary environment moving or by artificial images displayed by the secondary environment creating images of motion of the secondary environment. A relative illusion of motion is identified in this publication as observed relative motion by passengers in a moving passenger vehicle of a secondary environment presenting having multiple images of motion of the secondary environment in the field of vision of the passengers. A perceived final destination is identified in this publication as the location of a moving passenger vehicle in reference to a primary environment as anticipated by the passengers of the passenger vehicle directly following an experienced relative illusion of motion and based upon the location of the passenger vehicle in the primary environment prior to the relative illusion of motion and further based upon the state dynamics of the relative illusion of motion. An actual final destination is identified in this publication as the true location of a moving passenger vehicle in reference to a primary environment directly following a relative illusion of motion.
Previous and current motion rides explore uses of relative motion of scenery for creating the illusion of fantastic voyages and adventures. U.S. Pat. No. 2,817,963 utilizes a pair of tunnels and a pair of drums for the brief exposure of relative illusion of motion to a passenger passing through the described objects. The entire ride, however, is designed so that all perceived final destinations correlate to actual final destinations and therefore the relative illusion of motion has no effect beyond the motion itself. This manner of use of relative illusion of motion is found most commonly among motion rides from the end of the 19th Century and the early 20th Century when such techniques were stirring intense interest among amusement park attendees. This may be correlated to scientific, artistic, and philosophical revolutions of the time that include Albert Einstein's theory of Special Relativity, H. G. Well's The Time Machine, and Edwin Abbott Abbott's Flatland that challenged preconceived notions of universal concepts like space, time, and our motion through both.
For example, the use of “ . . . endless aprons at the sides thereof though which flashes of light are discernible . . . ” in U.S. Pat. No. 1,048,152 for the relative illusion of motion of passengers in an elevator creates the illusion of descending motion correlating to a perceived final destination of “Hell” (with the actual final destination represented with scenery of “Hell”). In other words, the passengers are provided the illusion of motion of traveling down and are then presented with an actual final destination of a location that correlates to being at an elevation lower than passengers were previously located prior to this relative illusion of motion. A difference between perceived and actual final destination would have been a creation of scenery of the Moon or “Heaven” with correlating elements for a location in space or in the sky, respectively, following the relative illusion of motion of the descending mechanism. This, however, is not the case in this technology or any other existing motion ride designs. After the “Hell” experience, passengers are loaded onto another elevator with a relative illusion of motion of ascending motion from which follows a same location of perceived final destination and actual final destination as passengers are returned to the ground level.
The same limiting effect of relative illusion of motion with perceived final destinations always being the same as actual final destinations is found in U.S. Pat. No. 530,128, U.S. Pat. No. 556,340, U.S. Pat. No. 590,783, U.S. Pat. No. 739,236, U.S. Pat. No. 754,532, U.S. Pat. No. 788,886, U.S. Pat. No. 797,372, U.S. Pat. No. 847,724, U.S. Pat. No. 847,725, U.S. Pat. No. 853,898, U.S. Pat. No. 872,627, U.S. Pat. No. 887,803, U.S. Pat. No. 1,048,152, U.S. Pat. No. 1,340,570, U.S. Pat. No. 1,833,540, U.S. Pat. No. 2,069,664, U.S. Pat. No. 2,201,993, U.S. Pat. No. 2,941,333, U.S. Pat. No. 6,076,638, U.S. Pat. No. 6,412,360, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,629,895.
From reviewing the patent publications listed above, it is found that previous and current uses of relative illusion of motion upon a passenger or passengers exists among inventions focused solely on the motion effect and not on additional, complex, and unique effects generated from this initial effect (i.e. creating the illusion of teleportation). In other words, the effect of relative illusion of motion has always been used to compliment the journey and perceived final destination of the ride which is in absolute contrast to the current invention. This has created a thicket of overused ride experiences that passengers are greatly accustomed to with common expectations and anticipations of ride mechanisms using relative illusion of motion. The failure of current ride technologies to use relative illusion of motion for effects like creating the illusion of teleportation is further verified by documentation of a complete lack of mention of creation of illusion of teleportation on a group of passengers in a ride vehicle in any of the patent publications of this group, or any other group, of motion rides.
Public technologies with a few but limited similarities to the current invention include two ride experiences found in the Disneyland Park in Anaheim, Calif. (with similar constructions in other Disney amusement parks around the World). The Haunted Mansion ride in the themed area of “New Orleans Square” transports passengers by a large OTIS elevator. The elevator is only partially encapsulating riders giving the impression during operation that the elevator room is “stretching” as some elements of the room do not move with the elevator. This is not done in any manner to give the illusion of teleportation as passengers are transported to another room of the “mansion” that fulfils the anticipated progression of travel through the themed ride. In a similar fashion, the Indiana Jones Adventure ride in “Adventureland” uses a movable structure for partially encapsulating riders of a stationary vehicle and creating an illusion of motion around the vehicle. This motion created by a partially surrounding wall briefly provides the illusion that the vehicle is moving backwards. This, however, does not provide any illusion of teleportation as passengers are moved into another room of the “temple” that is an area anticipated within the themed ride. Tony Baxter, Senior Vice President of Creative Development of Disney Imagineering, remarks in the 2000 DVD release Disneyland Resort, Imagineering the Magic that this effect—the brief illusion of motion of a vehicle that is stationary—is similar to an experience in a vehicle within a car wash. There is no mention of a goal of creating the illusion of teleportation. Also, this is not a relative illusion of motion as identified in this publication as the ride vehicle is not reported to be moving during motion of the wall.
In regards to public technologies that do mention teleportation, such publications are not found within fields of motion rides or amusement park attractions but in fields of video gaming in virtual space (virtual teleportation), magician acts (stage actor teleportation), and physics applications that contain elaborate detailing of scientific principles suggesting the possibility of teleportation by laws of quantum mechanics (i.e. quantum entanglement) or general relativity (i.e. Einstein-Rosen bridge), respectively.
In summary, the employment of relative illusion of motion has been used historically to create the effect solely for that purpose with any anticipation of a ride destination (perceived final destination) of a motion ride experience always being in the same location as the actual final destination of the motion ride. Consequently, no previous or current technology uses relative illusion of motion for creating the illusion of teleportation on a multiple of passengers in a passenger vehicle.